Swiss-based Glencore, this country’s largest coalminer, paid almost no tax over the past three years on income of at least $15 billion, claiming tax breaks in Australia after borrowing money from associates overseas.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the aggressive tax avoidance tactics of Glencore Coal International Australia were identified in independent analysis of the company’s accounts for Fairfax Media by an expert in multinational financing.

Research from the Australia Institute this week identified $17.6 billion in government subsidies and assistance for the mining industry. As the third largest resources group in the country after BHP and Rio Tinto, Glencore is a beneficiary of this assistance.

The report said that “Glencore Coal Investments Australia’s operations in Australia are, because of the group’s business model, branch operations of the Swiss-domiciled parent entity, which uses the now dormant legal shell of an Australian body corporate in an attempt to hide the reality of its branch business in Australia".